I was curious as to how many people here celebrate Thanksgiving. Growing up, we did not celebrate it but i do now. I personally think that it is a very good thing to do. Giving thanks is a very jewish thing to do. I know you give thanks every day when davening etc.. but why are some people so against celebrating Thanksgiving? The holiday is about giving thanks to God. I would like to hear opinions on this.

We have always celebrated Thanksgiving as an American holiday out of thanks to Hashem and this country of ours, where Jews could be Jews without fear of pogroms. I thank Hashem EVERY day for the countless brachas He gives me, but it is simply a matter of hakoras hatov to this nation which was founded on religious and personal freedom, to mark the day in some fashion. we love turkey, so it’s a no-brainer. By the way, the national language of the USA was almost Hebrew. The Christian Governor Bradford was a student of the Bible in its original Hebrew, and was convinced that the New World should follow the Jewish Bible very closely, or so I have been told.

I think that gratitude is definitely appropriate (we are yehudim, after all 😉 and it is definitely in order to discuss in schools and with family what a bracha a medina shel chesed is, a chance to catch our breaths collectively while in galus. But we always saved turkey for Purim; my father doesn’t like having a fleishig supper on Thursday unless it was yom tov or a seudas mitzvah, and I continue that myself.

I think that celebrating Thankgiving is lovely, although I didn’t grow up with it. I just find that having company Thursday and then cleaning up after and getting the house in order for shabbos too dificult. My kids have a full day of school on Thanksgiving, so it means pulling them out of school. Now if Thanksgiving was on a sunday that would be much better for me!

im still in school. and i have off thursday+friday, so yes, i am definitely grateful for that much-neede break, especially b/c i am up late posting on YWN rather than doing some constructive and maybe overdue work

I make enough food for Thanksgiving that a substantial portion is taken off and set aside for Shabbos. Generally, we do not eat a fleishig meal on a Thirsday night, but this is the exception. I serve Turkey at other times during the year, mostly for a Yom Tov, or when we have guests that have not been over for a while (Otherwise Shabbos is chicken, cholent, once in a while a roast that’s on sale).

On the issue of joining with those who think that Thanksgiving is like a holiday to eat a meal: since it is clear that according to their religious law books this day is not mentioned as a religious holiday and that one is not obligated in a meal [according to Gentile religious law] and since this is a day of remembrance to citizens of this country, when they came to reside here either now or earlier, halacha sees no prohibition in celebrating with a meal or with the eating of turkey. One sees similar to this in Kiddushin 66 that Yanai the king made a party after the conquest of kochlet in the desert and they ate vegetables as a remembrance.

As someone who calls for adherence to Daas Torah regardless of whether it makes sense to you, I suggest you retract or modify that statement.

I know the Kamenetsky family, and they did not eat turkey, because their family holds the tradition that it is a safek if a turkey is a kosher bird. At least, that is what R’ Yaakov ZT”L’s great-grandson told us when he was a guest in our home. Fortunately, I had not prepared turkey for that Shabbos, but it came out in conversation, when the young man complimented my cooking and I mentioned that I had originally planned to make turkey, but hadn’t purchased one in time to make it for that Shabbos. He told me, gam zu l’tovah, because in his family they do not eat turkey, because they hold to the mesora that turkey is a safek.

I never understood why Thanksgiving was so turkey-centered. The Pilgrims ate a lot more than just turkey in the New World! Maybe that’s just my vegetarian sensibilities getting offended 🙂

Anyway, I am in E”Y right now so I am not celebrating Thanksgiving. I overheard one girl say poutily at dinner earlier tonight, “It’s not Thanksgiving without pie!” Okay, so it’s not Thanksgiving. We’re in Israel, for goodness’ sake!

Growing up, I never davka celebrated Thanksgiving but sometimes my aunt and uncle would invite us over for a meal, and I think my Bubbe once took us out to a restaurant before she fell ill. It was just never a big thing with my immediate family. I definitely feel grateful to America for the religious tolerance it has provided; imagine if I had been born in 1490 Spain instead of 1990 America! But I don’t see it as being unpatriotic if I don’t have a big meal on Thanksgiving.

R’ MOshe has three tshuvos. ONe he says it’s asur, the other he says mutar, and the third he was asked why he was soser himself. He ends up saying that one, in his opinion, should not, but it’s mashma that there is a tsad to say that it’s mutar. It comes out that it’s better not to, but if one has to he could. (But I guess it’s too late now!)

Jfem – Turkey was a “new invention” to the Pilgrims, as were about 90% of the vegetables that we eat today. Turkey, pumpkins, potatoes, maize, etc did not exist in Europe – just like horses did not exist in America until the Spanish brought them over. I would guess that this is why we make a big deal over those foods on Thanksgiving – and since most people would serve meat for their main dish (most ppl are not vegitarians), and turkey is the only meat on that list, the main course at a Thanksgiving dinner is turkey.

You may be correct that turkey, pumpkins, and maize were not native to Europe. But I’m certain potatoes were. They were a staple in Ireland; that’s why the potato blight in 1845 hit so hard and changed history. Maybe you are thinking of sweet potatoes?

Anyway, I’ll assume you were being inquisitive rather than argumentative. You are incorrect. If you do a bit of research you will see why. However, if YW allows me to post this link, you can piggyback off this source:

I researched further and found potatoes were grown in Europe beginning in the late 1500s (they were native to Peru). So by the time the first Thanksgiving was celebrated they were common in many parts of Europe, and a staple in Ireland. In fact, Irish immigrants brought potatoes to North America in the 1700s.

So you are correct in that potatoes are not native to Europe, but they were actually grown in Europe before the first Thanksgiving. I still think you meant to write “sweet potatoes” and not “potatoes” on that list of foods that were new to the Pilgrims.

I know that the Irish potato famine happened 200 years after the first Thanksgiving. But I mentioned it because that’s what made me think that in order for potatoes to have become such an important staple in Ireland (so much so that a blight in this one crop caused massive starvation and emigration) it’s likely that potatoes had been grown there for some time by then.

I followed your link. But the following link indicated that, as I mentioned before, Irish immigrants introduced potatoes (not sweet potatoes) to America, though as you noted they’d been brought to Spain from Peru

I followed your link. It indicates that Spanish conquistadors found potatoes in Peru in the 1500’s and introduced them to Europe. Then the potato was brought from Europe to the American colonies. According to the source you linked, Benjamin Franklin (who lived about 100 years after the first Thanksgiving) introduced the potato to the colonies. Thus, as I said before, the potato was cultivated in Europe before the Pilgrims reached America. So I’m not sure how you figure that I was incorrect.

The crazy thing is that the goyim pick one day out of the whole year to say thank you to Hashem. We say thank you to Hashem all the time, like when we daven and say Brachohs, ect. We are in galus, the Geulah is near. And then we will really have to say a big thank you to Hashem.

If you can access the seforim, the acharonic discourse on the kashrus of turkey is a fascinating read. The potato missed the kitniyot designation by arriving late to Europe. The Rama in Hilchos brochaos mentions ” the new vegatable” as a subject of shehecheyanu but rules it out because the storage ability takes away the seasonality. Rav Moshe ztzl, in a tshuva on peanuts/kitniyot ends with an “Ode to the Potato” saying that this wonderful thing was the basis of their chiyyus.

even cranberry sauce, means we are being thankful, it just means we are trying to imitate other Americans. Being thankful means just that, thanking HB”H for all that he bestows upon us even in Chutz L’Aretz.

Though this didn’t apply to Jews, we have managed to pick up some of the better parts of all the societies we lived in, and tried to keep the worst parts out of our lives.

There is good and bad in American culture, and those of us who are discussing this have much to be thankful for. Similar to the Pilgrims, we came here with hopes of being able to practice our religion freely, and to be free from persecution. America has accomplished this as successfully as any other country. I know there are flaws, but this is purely a relative measure.

One of the things Americans do right is to stop one day per year, take the day off from work, gather with our families, eat a feast, and let EVERYONE reflect on just how fortunate we are to be here, to have our bellies full, and to have our families around us.

I agree that one day of gratitude is not enough, but that is beside the point. One day is infinitely better than no days.

As it happens, the oldest Jewish congregation in the U.S., Shearith Israel, has a special service on Thanksgiving where they recite various chapters of Tehilim and say a Mi Shebeirach for the country. So there could be some historical basis for observing the holiday.

Am Ysrael Ehad If you are not american and american jews start celebrating thanksgiving is that a new minhag and in a few years people are going to say we have the tradition to celebrate it. And they would be called the amerikenses, with a different religion so far.